Automotive vehicles are increasingly equipped with various electronic entertainment and information systems and mobile multimedia devices, generally referred to herein as infotainment devices and systems. For example, automotive personal computing (PC) devices have been installed in vehicles to allow personal computing, web browsing, accessing e-mail, and other Internet access. Additionally, many vehicles are equipped with navigation systems, televisions, and video game systems. These and other infotainment systems typically include a human machine interface (HMI) for enabling a user to interface with the system. The HMI typically includes a display for viewing messages, navigational maps, video images, audio features, and other information. In addition, the HMI may include input controls for manipulation by a user to input commands to the infotainment system.
In order to reduce distraction to the driver (operator) of the vehicle, it may be desirable to inhibit the availability of some functions (features) of the infotainment system to the driver while the vehicle is in motion. For example, it may be desirable to limit the driver's ability to manipulate the HMI for use with a navigation system or cell phone when there is excessive risk of driver distraction. It may also be desirable to control other system operations, such as controlling the response time for a collision warning system, based on activity in the surrounding environment. Collision warning systems have been proposed to warn the driver of the vehicle of objects that pose a potential obstruction to the vehicle. It may be desirable to provide different levels of control of a collision warning system based on predictability of the surrounding environment.
When the driver is commanding a vehicle on a straight country road with no traffic during the daytime, there is less demand on the driver for attention. In this situation, the driver typically can predict what will happen within the next few seconds, despite a brief driver distraction. Conversely, when driving on a multi-lane winding road with erratic traffic, the driver is subjected to a higher driving task demand that requires more attention. In this situation, when the driver is distracted, there is a higher probability that a quicker response may be required. Conventional infotainment control systems and collision warning systems generally do not provide dynamic control of various features on a vehicle to permit the driver to engage distracting features in low traffic on straight roads, and to shield the driver against excessive distraction when driving in higher risk situations.
It is therefore desirable to provide for a method and system of assessing the driving task demand on the driver of a vehicle. It is further desirable to provide for a system and method that may dynamically adjust one or more devices on the vehicle based on the assessed driving task demand.